Friday, December 3, 2010

Event: Busting the Newbie Blues

Starting out as a new YA book blogger is a ton of fun. You meet a bunch of new people who all share in your passion for YA books, you become a part of a friendly community, and you're continually exposed to wonderful new books.

But sometimes things can be a little discouraging when you're just starting out. You look at your blog and then look at some of the awesome established bloggers out there and wonder if you'll ever make the grade.

So here's to Busting the Newbie Blues! Don't be discouraged. Instead, take action! Participate in my Busting the Newbie Blues event, which will run from December 3rd through December 31st.

This event is designed to:

Put new YA book bloggers on the map

Increase blogger interaction

Start a discussion by sharing our experiences as a new bloggers

Learn about what it was like for all those impressive established bloggers when they were newbies

So how does this work? Simple:

Select the questionnaire that best applies to you (there's no "wrong" choice, so just pick whichever one you feel most comfortable answering)

Create a post on your blog with the questions and your answers

Grab the banner above or the button below to include in your post or sidebar

Link back to my post here

Sign the Mr. Linky below so we can all come and visit your post!

Spread the word!

If you don't want to make a post on your blog, but you do want to participate, then just email me your answers and I'll post them up on my blog! Be sure to include your name and blog address. Here's where you can email me:
Imagesandwords at optonline dot net

Try to visit as many blogs as you can. Take a look at their answers, but also check out a bunch of their other posts (try for 5?) and leave comments. If you like their blog, follow them! If someone follows you, then take a look at their blog and follow back if you like what you see.

This event will run from today all the way through December 31st, so bookmark this post and check back to ensure you'll be included in all the fun as new bloggers add their posts to the list. I can't wait to see all your answers and blogs! I hope everyone has fun. :)

Pick this questionnaire if you if you feel you're still getting your "blogging legs" and could use some advice and awareness brought to your blog, whether you're a brand new blogger or even if you've been blogging for over a year.

When did you start your blog?

Why did you start your blog?

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

What do you find most discouraging about being a new blogger?

What do you find most encouraging?

What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?

What do you dislike about blogs you’ve read? Do you try to avoid this?

Any advice for other new bloggers?

Anything else you’d like to share about your experience?

Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your blog?

Established Bloggers:

Pick this questionnaire if you've been blogging for a while, have a decent sized group of followers and people commenting on your posts, and get a decent amount of traffic. Basically, you have some experience blogging and you've seen positive results for your efforts. You can define "decent."

When did you start your blog?

Why did you start your blog?

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? Did you make any mistakes new bloggers can learn from?

What did you find most discouraging about being a new blogger? How did you deal with this?

What do you find most encouraging?

What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?

What do you dislike about blogs you’ve read? Do you try to avoid this?

Do you have any advice for new bloggers?

How did you bring your blog to the attention of so many people?

Is there anything else you’d like to share about your experience?

Oh, and please pay no attention to the "Blog Fodder" title in the Mr. Linky or the links below it. I think you have to pay to customize that, and I only selected the free option that let me choose an established name.

74 comments:

This is a great idea! It is difficult being a new blogger and trying to figure out how everything works without having a handbook :D I am not too sure which group I fall into though (somewhere in between, perhaps?) - any criteria (like number of months) for the categories?

I'm so glad you're all participating. I'll be stopping by your blogs soon!

Danya and Cass, nothing is set in stone. The goal is to help one another, so it's really up to you if you consider yourself "new" or not. I would suggest choosing the questionnaire for new bloggers if you've either just started out or if you've been at it for a while but you feel you're still struggling to get a hang of things. There really is no "wrong" answer here. I'll edit the original post for clarity. Thanks!

This is such a wonderful idea, I know that I found established blogger's tips very helpful when I started out but it was very difficult to find the posts. I'll be participating sometime soon and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's answers :)

This is a great post! I'll add this to my post lineup this weekend, so I'll link my answers tomorrow.

Book blogging is awesome, but it's a process, and it's best to keep with it, you know? Even after blogging a year, I have far less followers than some newbie bloggers, but I will say that I have an awesome and involved following, which brightens every day for me, so I have nothing to complain about!

hi Small Review! thanks for dropping by my blog and for following. i'm glad you like paintings done in watercolor. your new event looks cool. hopefully everyone gets to share & learn something from each other. i'll come back soon to sign up for it.

Thank you all for joining up! I'm so happy you like the idea. I hope everyone's answers help you and we can have some good discussions. :)

Melissa: Oh I agree. I don't think it's the number of followers that matter as much as the quality of followers, and I'm so lucky with the people I've met here. You're all really great.

Laura: If there is a way to fix it, I can't figure it out. Don't worry though, your blog links and that's what is important. Don't feel stupid, I think we've all done something like that at one point or another. I know I have!

This was a fun little project to participate in! It really did make me stop and spend some time evaluating the whys, whats, and so forth behind my literature blog. Thank you for the opportunity to share my perspectives. I also thought your questionnaire was very well thought out. Cheers! Chris

As for finding my "voice," I'm probably still developing it, but I would recommend just blogging as it comes naturally to you and not trying to force anything or imitate another blogger's style. I think if you're genuine then this gets conveyed across to the reader :)

I just discovered this event on AnimeGirl's blog. I'm a newbie blogger and I've been hoping to run across something like this. The blogosphere is so massive I often find myself bewildered and not sure where to start.

Whoops, accidentally posted THIS url with my comments when I meant to post my own. *forehead slap* Small Review, if you see a comment by me with your URL (for the linky list), my apologies! I didn't do it on purpose. :p

Oh don't worry at all (I just made a complete mess of a Mr Linky on another blog today!), but your link looks fine to me. I see you as number 14 and the link leads back to your blog as it should. That's right, right?